We all need it.
View the full 2020 Celebrity Wedding of the Year. Photographed by Sophie Oldhamstead
*Splendid Note: You can read the previous updates and FAQs on Coronavirus and your wedding business here.
I’ve been fortunate to have worked with wedding pros from 94 countries over my career and I’ve heard from a ton of them this past month – all with similar questions, stories of lost business, uncertainties of what to say to clients who are completely stressed.
We’re all in this together. If you have questions on Coronavirus and your wedding business, feel free to email me at hello@thinksplendid.com. I’ll be sharing my answers here on the Think Splendid blog so that everyone can benefit. I’ll also keep your name anonymous. Totally free, no strings attached – I truly do not care if you never hire me.
It’s easy to get caught up in a cycle of feeling overwhelmed and then feeling guilty about feeling overwhelmed because maybe you don’t have it so bad as a lot of other people.
No guilt trips allowed. Stay grateful for what you do have and give yourself grace for being a normal human being like the rest of us.
Jealous of all this “extra free time” you keep hearing about while trying to figure out how to attend your company’s daily Zoom stand up meeting while your Kindergartner and Second Grader’s respective Zoom classes are scheduled at the same time and require parental supervision and participation, and oh yeah, your spouse has their Zoom company meeting at the same time, too? You’re doing great. Truly.
Feeling out of sorts because you’re normally super on top of it but couldn’t reply to your emails or finish that project until 9 pm after the kids you homeschooled all day went to bed? Who cares? The work got done.
Served reheated frozen pizza or chicken nuggets more times than you’d like over the last three weeks? It’s fine.
Need to tune everything out by watching a little extra Netflix? Grab a cozy blanket and watch it.
Productivity is a useful tool, but many of us have turned it into an idol.
If you’re trying to maintain your normal work output rate while also having to now do #allthethings that you might normally delegate to a teacher/babysitter/after school program/pet groomer/cleaning service/teenage neighbor you pay to mow your lawn . . . well, it’s a lot.
The point of quarantining is to stop the spread so we can all get back to normal life as soon as possible, so if you are staying home you ARE being productive.
Put some boundaries in place so you don’t burn out. Whatever work doesn’t get done today will still be there tomorrow.
Focus on the Splendid
We're an industry that makes our living by celebrating life's milestones, and I’ve been starting each post with a couple of positive COVID-19 related things we can all smile about.
Today’s post, however, is only good things: some heartwarming stories, some interesting, non-depressing pieces of news, some doses of humor if you need a laugh, etc.
Total Global Recoveries
The number of global recoveries is now more than 195,500 people, up from 178,500 yesterday.
Unconditional Love
From Bloomberg: “Of all the shortages created by the coronavirus pandemic -- the toilet paper and the hand sanitizer and the bottled water -- the oddest of them all has to be dogs. Oh, and cats too.
That’s right, in the New York city area, the epicenter of the disease, there is suddenly a run on pets. “For the moment we definitely don’t have any dogs left to match” with foster volunteers, said Anna Lai, the marketing director at Muddy Paws. “Which is a great problem to have.”
The run on pets seems to extend beyond New York, at least in disease hotspots. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said its Los Angeles office saw a 70% increase in animals going into foster care. And Best Friends said many of the shelters it partners with across the U.S. report the same phenomenon.”
A Little Too Relatable
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Meeting New Friends
More Cuteness
The 25 best animal live cams to watch while social distancing.
Queen Elizabeth Launches an At-Home Arts Initiative for Kids
Even the Introverts Are Over It
A Forest Submerged 60,000 Years Ago Could Save Your Life One Day
From The New York Times: “Underwater forest” is not a metaphor — this is a not a coral reef or a sea grass bed that resembles surface woodlands but bona fide trees with roots and leaves. For thousands of years, this cypress grove — about two football fields long and five feet wide — lay silent, preserved within an oxygen-less tomb of sand and sediment. Then came Ivan. In 2004 . . . the storm scooped up nearly 10 feet of sand from the seabed, awakening the sleeping forest beneath.”
Community Communication
UK Couple donate their wedding food to NHS Workers
From the Independent: “A couple whose wedding celebrations were cancelled due to the coronavirus have donated the food they had ordered to NHS workers.
As a result of Fiona and Adam Gordon’s donation, more than 400 hospital staff in Hull were fed over the weekend.”
Tuning Out
From Vulture: The 100 best movies to watch on Netflix right now and everything new coming to Hulu in April and 6 escapist podcasts if you need a distraction.
Written by
LIENE STEVENS
Liene Stevens, the founder and CEO of Think Splendid, is an author, speaker, and award-winning business strategist. Armed with $2000, a healthy work ethic, and an undeserved dose of privilege, Liene bootstrapped Think Splendid from a scribble in a notebook to a successful wedding business consulting firm with a client list spanning 94 countries.
